Skillsoft Blog

One of the many rewards of having children is that sense of wonder and awe you experience as you watch them grow. Such is the universality of these emotions that even Bob Harris, Bill Murray’s rather enigmatic character in 2003’s critically acclaimed Lost in Translation, talks about kids as being the most interesting people you will ever meet. Watching my two daughters grow and mature is a constant source of amazement to me and provides an endless source of joy.

In the past I’ve spoken about how Percipio, our award–winning intelligent learning platform, has consumed my life; in a way, it is not dissimilar to the way children absorb your time, which perhaps explains why I often liken Percipio to a third child.

Watching Percipio grow has provided me with plenty of opportunities for excitement, happiness, some anxiety, but it is the latest way that Percipio has evolved that is really filling me, as with any parent, with pride.

ELSA stands for Embedded Learning Synchronized Assistant and what that means is we have removed barriers to learning for our 45 million users. ELSA enables frictionless, groundbreaking in-the-moment learning.

How does ELSA do this?

With ELSA, we put a lot of energy and focus into making it as easy as possible for users to access Percipio, right in the context of their work, whether that is via a website, in a SaaS solution, in a desktop application or wherever.

Now users can search, find and watch micro-learning videos, read books and listen to audiobooks right where and when they need to. There’s no more need to toggle between work and learning.

I’m talking about

Just in time learning: Say I’m a sales rep in Salesforce.com and I want to brush up on my negotiation skills. Without ever having to change screens, I can now find negotiation tips from my salesforce.com screen! I don’t need to go into another system; the information is right where I need it.

Answering a question: I come across a new concept or term and I want to understand what it is. I can simply highlight a word or phrase, and by clicking the ELSA icon, the search results readily pop up. I can see content in Percipio without even having to re-type anything!

Research: I’m reading an article on the top programming languages for 2018 and see Python is number one, and I want to see if Percipio has related content. By highlighting the term and using Percipio ELSA, I’m able to quickly find relevant content, making it much easier to start learning, where I am.

Furthermore, ELSA maintains your position, the place where you left off, so when you return to your device or even log into Percipio from a different device, you resume at that exact place/spot.

With Percipio ELSA we are closer to delivering on our promise to make Percipio the de facto learning platform across all industries, all users, anytime and anywhere.

Whether learners are trying to find answers to help them perform better today or looking to answer a question, Percipio ELSA delivers an industry first embedded learning experience.

“Today employees want learning in the flow of work. As we are all busier than ever, products that embed learning into websites, web-browsers and other productivity tools can provide transformational value to employees at all levels.”

Josh Bersin, Principal and Founder of Bersin by Deloitte

So yeah, I’m very much the proud parent, beaming with pride and happy to share with you my wonderful “child” in action. ELSA itself is in an introductory stage. We expect ELSA to grow in several ways and forms. It will be a platform to deliver learning tips and reinforcements, learning recommendations, and required learning reminders. Soon, ELSA will also be the user experience framework for how Percipio embeds within other systems such as learning management systems and HRIS systems.